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The StealthEHC Dry Air Blanketing System offers a simple, yet advanced solution to exclude moisture and contaminants from your EHC fluid systems. Our StealthEHC system blankets your reservoir headspace with super-dry, clean air. A low pressure air purge in the headspace accomplishes two important tasks simultaneously: It extracts moisture from the EHC fluid while excluding other contaminants from getting in the system. The result is exceptionally clean, dry EHC fluid. The system is inexpensive to install, has no moving parts or electrical connections, and requires no maintenance. Quite simply, the StealthEHC is the highest value contamination control technology you will install at your plant.
The ultimate solution for keeping moisture and atmospheric contamination out of your critical Electrohydraulic Control systems.
StealthEHC Features
- Plant air at an inlet pressure of 80-120 psi.
- There are no mechanical parts, no electrical connections - the system includes only a purposely sized orifice and an inlet filter.
- Patented technology works by:
- Self-draining high-efficiency coalescing filter removing fluid, water, aerosols and other particulate contaminants from the air.
- Patented membrane air-dryer uses an induced pressure differential across unique plastic tubes to remove water vapor to a dew point of 40oC (relative humidity of 0.4%).
- Fixed sonic orifice releases dry air to the reservoir at a rate specific to the application, creating a slight positive pressure that prevents the ingress of ambient air.
- The flow of dry air continually removes water from the system, changing the equilibrium of the fluid to achieve very low moisture levels.
- Air leaves the system through the existing desiccant breather, which still compensate for infrequent fluctuations in fluid level.
StealthEHC Benefits
- Prevents atmospheric contamination from entering the reservoir
- Removes water not only from the headspace but also from the fluid itself as the fluid reaches equilibrium with the very dry air flowing across it
- Prevents accelerated acid formation and contamination in the fluid
- The exhausting air is dry enough to continually regenerate the existing desiccant breather, eliminating the cost and labor associated for breather maintenance.
- A fraction of the price of any other water removal technology - provides extremely rapid ROI.
Application Profile : Electrohydraulic Control Systems
The phosphate esters (PE) in EHC fluids act like a sponge; they readily absorb large amounts of water from the air. Although OEMs typically allow water limits of 2000 ppm, this is far too high. Research shows that phosphate ester fluids hydrolyze to accelerate acid formation and deposits at levels greater than 500 ppm.
EHC users are well aware of the damage to their systems caused by elevated water levels. Many plants have purchased vacuum dehydration systems to maintain acceptable moisture levels in their fluids. Vacuum dehydration systems are expensive to install ($40,000+), expensive to operate, and expensive to maintain. Even with the many components that make up a vacuum dehydration system (motors, PLCs, vacuum pumps and other sensitive components), these systems have been justified for appropriate maintenance practices on EHC system Installing a StealthEHC system maintains moisture levels around 250ppm or below at a small fraction of the cost of competing technologies.
The following graph shows the immediate impact of installing a StealthEHC system on an EHC reservoir. In addition to lower water levels, this plant realized improved resistivity values, lower oxidation rates and less frequent change-outs of their acid scavenging filters.
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